Gary Hurley. Picture: Federico Capretti/ Alps Tour Golf.

West Waterford's Gary Hurley took another giant step towards winning his DP World Tour card when he carded a six-under 65 in the fourth round at the Qualifying School Final Stage in Spain to remain in solo sixth place in the race to finish in the top 25 and ties.

The Aglish star (29) remained faithful to the mental game mantras he has worked on for three years with Cork-based performance coach Dr Edward Coughlan and while he did not feel his best starting the day at Infinitum's Lakes Course in Tarragona, he rattled off eight birdies to go into the last two rounds just five shots behind leader Simon Forsstrom on 16-under-par, four shots inside the top-25.

On a day when Kinsale's John Murphy carded a four-under 67 at the Lakes to move up to tied 35th on nine-under, three shots outside the top 25, Ardglass Cormac Sharvin, Clandeboye's Jonathan Caldwell and Greystones' Paul Dunne missed the 72-hole cut for the top 70 and ties.

Sharvin missed out by two strokes on three-under-par despite shooting a four-under 68 at the Hills with Caldwell a shot further back after a level par 71 at the Lakes and Dunne five off the following his one-over 73 at the Hills.

"I played quite nice, actually," said Hurley, who made three birdies in his last four holes. "I really didn't really warm up great, to be honest. I wasn't hitting great on the range and started off a bit cagey.

John Murphy pictured during the Rolex Callenge Tour Grand Final at Alcanada Golf Club in Mallorca. Picture: Niall O'Shea

"But then I was just very open to it coming back and then towards the back nine, I started to hit a lot better and made a couple of really good birdies on 12 and 15, probably two of the longest holes on the course.

"So that was one against the field for sure. I was just very in it, just one shot at a time, staying in the process of what I'm doing."

Hurley explained that his strategy has been to separate playing the game from becoming overwrought thinking about what it all means.

"It's the same again," he said of his plan for round five. "Same as I have been doing every round, just really inoculated by the process of each shot that I am hitting.

"That's my main goal, really. Allow the results to be what they are going to be and make peace with them whether they are going to be good, bad or indifferent. It's not really important to me. The most important thing is me being true to myself in the work I'm doing. And all that comes back to the process and things I can control."

Murphy (24) knows he needs two low rounds to get his card, and he's hoping the putter warms up after ending up frustrated as he got to five-under with four to go but bogeyed the 15th and failed to birdie either of the par-fives coming home.

"I played lovely," Murphy said. "I'm a bit frustrated, to be honest. I felt like there was a low one out there for the taking, but I just didn't convert. But that's alright; we’ve got 36 holes left to go. Lots of golf left, so I just have to keep doing what I'm doing, putting the ball in play, putting it in positions and trying to make a few eventually.

"I've always said if I could make that top 70 number, anything can happen in those last few rounds.

"So I think it's just keeping myself in it the whole way through. Then, obviously, there are some good opportunities out there in the last couple of rounds to move up the leaderboard.

"I'm just going to try to do that, stay on top of things off the tee, make sure I'm in good positions and see where that leaves me."

As for his strategy for the final round, he said: "I think, to be honest, I'm going to try to keep the same strategy, just hit fairways, hit greens. I think I only missed one green out there today. I had a lot of good looks for birdie on a lot of holes.

"If I can just stay patient, we've got a lot of golf left to play in this tournament. So hopefully, they'll start to drop."

Forsström will take a two-shot lead into the fifth day after he posted a six under par 65 on the Lakes Course to lead on 21-under par from England's Daniel Brown.

Four-time DP World Tour winner Kiradech Aphibarnrat posted a sensational nine under par round of 62 to climb into a tie for third on 18 under alongside Frenchman Joël Stalter.

Sweden's Niklas Lemke occupies fifth on 17 under par with Hurley sixth on 16-under after his 65.

Denmark's Christoffer Bring carded the low round of the day, a sensational ten under par 61 on the Lakes Course, to move into a tie for tenth on 14 under.

The cut fell at five under par, with 72 players making it through to the final two rounds, which will be played on the Lakes Course at INFINITUM, where the top 25 and ties will earn DP World Tour playing privileges.

DP World Tour Qualifying School, Final Stage, Infinitum (Lakes Course, Par 71; Hills Course, Par 72)

Detailed scores

265 S Forsstrom (Swe) 66 69 65 65,

267 D Brown (Eng) 67 67 68 65,

268 K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 64 73 62, J Stalter (Fra) 68 68 69 63,

269 N Lemke (Swe) 72 66 65 66,

270 Gary Hurley (Irl) 70 65 70 65,

271 J Axelsen (Den) 72 63 67 69, N Bachem (Ger) 76 61 69 65, P Figueiredo (Por) 69 67 70 65,

272 T Edén (Swe) 76 68 61 67, D Ravetto (Fra) 67 69 72 64, M Siem (Ger) 69 72 67 64, C Bring (Den) 71 68 72 61, N Kristensen (Den) 67 71 69 65, R Hisatsune (Jpn) 66 69 72 65, J Lee (USA) 71 69 70 62,

273 A Del Rey (Esp) 69 68 68 68, G Kristjansson (Isl) 70 64 73 66, G Stal (Fra) 72 69 67 65, M Lorenzo-vera (Fra) 66 73 70 64

274 R Paratore (Ita) 70 69 67 68, R Santos (Por) 73 67 67 67, U Coussaud (Fra) 69 67 72 66, M Penge (Eng) 69 68 69 68, G Wiebe (USA) 73 64 71 66, G Porteous (Eng) 71 66 70 67, D Horsey (Eng) 70 70 69 65, S Hutsby (Eng) 71 67 66 70, E Bertheussen (Nor) 71 69 66 68

<—-Top 25 and ties—->

275 J Fahrbring (Swe) 71 68 71 65, M Elvira (Esp) 68 71 66 70, V Meyer (Ger) 66 71 73 65, L Scalise (Ita) 72 67 69 67,

276 B Rusch (Sui) 68 73 69 66,

277 John Murphy (Irl) 68 69 73 67, M Antcliff (Aus) 74 68 68 67, A Wilson (Eng) 70 69 71 67, C Wood (Eng) 72 69 70 66, R Mcgowan (Eng) 68 66 75 68, A Cañizares (Esp) 68 71 73 65,

278 C Barrow (Am) (Eng) 68 67 73 70, C Howie (Sco) 73 69 68 68, T Lewis (Eng) 73 66 73 66, D O'Loughlin (Eng) 66 72 69 71, B Poke (Den) 71 65 74 68, C Berardo (Fra) 70 70 70 68, J Prinsloo (RSA) 70 69 68 71, A Saddier (Fra) 71 69 70 68, M Schmitt (Ger) 70 72 72 64,

279 J Felton (Aus) 72 68 72 67, P Sagoo (Eng) 74 67 71 67, M Lundberg (Swe) 72 70 70 67, T Murray (Eng) 72 70 71 66,

280 K Davidse (RSA) 71 74 66 69, D Ackerman (USA) 71 72 67 70, Y Liu (Chn) 74 72 67 67, G Boyd (Eng) 74 69 65 72, O Farrell (Eng) 75 68 65 72, O Farr (Wal) 73 72 67 68, H Sturehed (Swe) 73 72 68 67, D Papadatos (Aus) 74 68 69 69, C Paisley (Eng) 72 69 73 66, S Bairstow (Eng) 72 68 70 70, L Johnston (Sco) 68 70 70 72, J Zunic (Aus) 69 70 75 66,

281 C Mivis (Bel) 76 67 69 69, A Chesters (Eng) 70 77 65 69, T Kanaya (Jpn) 70 75 67 69, F Aguilar (Chi) 69 71 72 69, R Gouveia (Por) 75 67 73 66, O Fisher (Eng) 73 69 71 68, M Gradecki (Pol) 75 66 75 65.

Missed the cut

282 F Lacroix (Fra) 76 70 68 68, S Gallacher (Sco) 73 73 64 72, P Mattsson (Swe) 76 67 70 69, S Brown (Eng) 70 73 71 68, L Van Meijel (Ned) 76 69 69 68, R Roussel (Fra) 74 68 70 70, P Oriol (Esp) 71 71 69 71, I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 71 71 75 65, J Senior (Eng) 68 70 74 70, H Goddard (Eng) 73 66 71 72, L Brown (RSA) 71 70 73 68, G Fernandez-Castaño (Esp) 72 66 76 68,

283 G Bourdy (Fra) 72 73 68 70, F Laporta (Ita) 77 72 67 67, A Karlsson (Swe) 77 71 67 68, H Hopewell (Am) (Aus) 70 78 65 70, Cormac Sharvin (NIr) 72 72 71 68, J Sjoholm (Swe) 71 74 68 70, S Dyson (Eng) 66 72 72 73, V Riu (Fra) 72 69 76 66,

284 M Ford (Eng) 80 68 65 71, A De Bondt (Bel) 73 70 72 69, F Mory (Fra) 72 68 78 66, A Plant (Eng) 74 65 75 70, T Gandy (Imn) 69 73 73 69, Jonathan Caldwell (NIr) 71 69 73 71, B Baumgarten (USA) 68 71 76 69,

285 G Havret (Fra) 75 68 66 76, T Thurloway (Eng) 70 73 72 70, P Pineau (Fra) 76 70 69 70,

286 T Sluman (USA) 76 73 67 70, Paul Dunne (Irl) 74 72 67 73, A Host (Den) 72 75 68 71, N Infanti (USA) 75 75 64 72, K Broberg (Swe) 76 69 71 70, J Kennegard (Swe) 75 72 70 69, A Flanagan (Eng) 79 72 66 69, C Ross (Sco) 76 69 70 71, M Eriksson (Swe) 74 70 70 72, A Buendia (Esp) 73 69 73 71,

287 J Sainz (Esp) 73 70 68 76,

288 P Katich (Ger) 70 74 67 77, S Mazzoli (Ita) 73 72 70 73, L Dobbelaar (Aus) 74 70 76 68, D Antonisse (Ned) 65 79 71 73, E Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 68 79 71 70, A Zemmer (Ita) 74 72 69 73, P Launer Baek (Den) 78 71 68 71, J Sandborg (Swe) 76 69 73 70, A Pouguet (Fra) 68 71 74 75,

289 D Perrier (Fra) 75 72 71 71, M Iten (Sui) 75 69 70 75, D Hebenstreit (Aut) 72 74 70 73, L Harries (Am) (Wal) 71 77 70 71, J Wikstrom (Swe) 76 78 71 64, J Allan (Eng) 75 70 69 75, D Naidoo (RSA) 74 69 69 77, B Thornberry (USA) 73 69 74 73,

290 M Stewart (Sco) 70 73 72 75, D Howell (Eng) 76 74 69 71, C Banke (USA) 85 64 69 72, B Virto (Esp) 75 74 70 71,

291 J Hansen (Den) 74 76 66 75, A Quiros (Esp) 70 75 69 77,

292 J Sandelin (Swe) 74 71 70 77, E Katz (USA) 72 78 72 70, Z Caldwell (USA) 75 72 71 74, D Hague (Eng) 74 71 72 75, A Pavan (Ita) 71 76 68 77,

293 P Mejow (Ger) 71 75 73 74, J Lando-Casanova (Fra) 69 78 74 72,

294 E Flores (USA) 69 75 76 74, P Moolman (RSA) 74 74 71 75,

295 H Brown (Den) 78 74 72 71, L Bjerregaard (Den) 76 72 71 76, N Platret (Fra) 69 75 80 71,

299 K Michel (Aus) 78 71 70 80,

307 B Petursson (Isl) 77 82 72 76, F Clerici (Sui) 77 75 73 82,

**

Out R McEvoy (Eng) 72 71 73 WD B Stow (Eng) 76 68 82 WD, M Hammer (Ger) 78 68 83 WD, L Masaveu (Am) (Esp) 74 66 WD, A Pike (Aus) 84 WD